Monday, November 14, 2011

How Full is Your Glass?

Reynvaan's latest blog and photos on climbing, passion and the confluence of the two.

Even though the climbing community can widely be referred to as a dirty group of mostly white people who seem to have more time than they know what to do with, we seem to have one thing down - passion. Climbers: Where passion crawls along the fine line of obsession and we find ourselves jobless, eating honey packets outside of our car-hotel.

Are we driven by progression, passion, or perpetual self-deprecation? Wait…Let’s back pedal here. Something I see far too little of in this world is passion, which to me is one of the true keys to happiness. A recent observation in a COCC class showed that over half of the students seemed offended by the simple question of “do you have a passion”. What is a seemingly preposterous assumption to my fellow classmates is the lifeblood that I thrive off of to remain happy. This alone suggesting there will only ever be a fair few that I can really understand. These are the people I can build off of and how with simple relationship building we become better people from simply being a part of each others' lives.

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One person who always seems to be at Smith Rock with a glass 3/4 full of his passion is Alex Baker. Always a welcome addition to my crag experience, he's consistently shown himself to not only be an extremely strong climber mentally and physically but also a refreshment to be around. I can't quite get enough of people who radiate their positivity and love for the sport we're there to do. Alex has been working on sending Vicious Fish, a notoriously hard 5.13+ on Smith’s front side since last season. Coming back from an injury last year and the motivation of a moving to start a new job for Black Diamond in a few short weeks, Alex had the extra push he needed. Shortly after these photos were taken, he finally sent on a cold November day. I’m sure this will just spark the inspiration to continue to push Alex to his limits and then some in Utah. I look forward to hearing about his and his girlfriend Rachael’s climbing and professional successes as they move forward.

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BO$$------>

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Lately I’ve been getting so excited that I lay in bed awake setting daily goals for my climbing. Inspired by unwavering optimism despite gruel forecasts, anything is possible. I've now taken 6 attempts on the latest route of interest- Kings of Rap. This is likely one of the most beautiful routes ever and will be my first 5.12d (a grade I seem to have skipped somehow). By day two, I was delighted to see beta come together. One minor set back after a fall into the 90° roof on Kings resulted in small battle wound. Likely just a reminder to either not fall there, or perhaps wear shin guards.

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Luckily the following weekend was confidence inspiring as another whip in the same spot was less like a short stab to the shin, and more like a side-hug or really good high-five. With optimism on my side and blood-induced fear behind me, the future is bright with sending! I hope :)